


Untitled

by Jackolidus



Series: Will it Stick? [6]
Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Cats, Internet Forum, M/M, Misunderstandings, Roommates, Sex Work, office job, video games - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-24 06:20:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30067980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jackolidus/pseuds/Jackolidus
Summary: He was just like everybody else. He had a job and an apartment and student loans and a grocery list and a hierarchy of friends, just like everybody else. He was just a normal guy. Boring, ordinary things happened to him. The doctor called him to give him the results of his bloodwork, his coworkers sent him emails about missing paperwork, his friends texted him to ask him out for coffee and drinks and movie nights. Ordinary stuff like that. And he was happy to be ordinary. Totally, he was cool with the way his life was.He felt like he knew what to expect from the next few years. He hoped to meet a nice girl, settle down with her, get married, and move into a real house with her. The rest would be up to the girl. Maybe she’d want kids or a dog or something. He didn’t really care. He was fine with whatever.Until one big thing happened. The product of meeting a stranger from the internet in real life. The absolute ruin of his entire goddamn life.
Relationships: Juila/Victor, Julian/Victor
Series: Will it Stick? [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2212059





	1. Meet Astro-Dog

After work every day, Vic would go home and make a cup of coffee before changing out of his uniform and into something comfortable. Then, he would usually figure out dinner and relax for the rest of the evening. 

He didn’t want to brag or anything, but he did have a pretty killer home office setup, and about a million video games. He had his own video game fund where every paycheck he’d set ten bucks aside to save up for the next thing he wanted. Technically, it wasn’t a fund specifically for games, he also used it for travel and clothes and really expensive things that he wanted to save up for, which were, most of the time, video games. 

One night, a few days before his next paycheck, a few days before he’d be able to buy his next game, he logged onto his PodChat account and hit the forums. 

He only had a PodChat account because his friend Joseph had one and needed more followers if he was going to get the ability to become a chat moderator. Then he’d needed recommendations, which had meant that Vic needed to get recommendations so that he’d be able to recommend his buddy. In the end, it had been a waste of time; Joseph had received his promotion without the help of the useless Vic, but Vic had kept his account because one day he’d actually used his account for its intended purpose. 

He liked to scroll through the forums and see what people were talking about. He liked to see what the rest of the world was talking about. He didn’t usually interact, but he did find himself scrolling through the endless posts and wondering what it felt like to know that the whole world could see what you’d decided to say. 

That night, he was looking through the video games tag, seeing what people had to say about their favorite and least favorite ones. A particular post caught his eye. 

**Astro-dog** said: 

I’m gonna have to rant a little bit. So, when my mom bought me my first playstation, she didn’t know what games to get me. My allowance back then was, like, two bucks a week, so, like, not a whole lot of room for buying video games. That said, she bought me this really stupid and basic easy and long game. It was called something like, Space Timers or something. 

the game goes like this, you’re in a forest and you’re looking for these crystals and you have to look around every corner and, like, once you found all the crystals, basically it had you go through the motions of building this elaborate time machine. 

At the end, like, once you’d built it, it sent you back to the beginning. Like that was the whole goal of the game. Anyway, I played it a couple of times just to see if it landed you anywhere different (it did not) and then I saved up and bought my own games. However! Recently, I saw this YouTube video about how to get behind the scenes in the game and there are some really cool hidden features and things that I am really interested in. Easter eggs and stuff. ALSO, my kid nephew has apparently ALWAYs wanted to play this game since I started talking about it and without realizing that i didn’t have it anymore, I told him he could play. So I’m kinda stuck. Plus his birthdya is soon and everyhting and my sister kinda hates mr right now sooooo.

Here’s the deal, my game got misplaced at some point over my frequent moves over the last few years and I cannot for the life of me find the game. Not on eBay or Amazon or anything. Can’t find it. Maybe I don’t have the right name or something? So if anyone has the name of this game or knows somewhere I can find it, that would be super rad. I would owe you a million hugs or something (at least one hug).

Remember that Vic didn’t usually interact? Well, he was breaking his tryst with himself because the post had more than a hundred comments and they all said something like, “Oh, sorry dude, I was just wondering the same thing,” or, “Wow, I’ve never heard of that,” and Vic had been playing the game the other day, wondering if there was really something new to be discovered at the end of the game. 

He clicked the comment bar and stared at the blinking line that was waiting for him to type. He could do this. A million million people were going to see his comment and know that he played the game. But that would be okay. Astro-dog needed his help.

**victum** said:

Hi, the game you’re talking about is called Time Searchers and I’ve provided some links where you can find it online here and here. So far I haven’t been able to find anything at the end of the game. I am interested in the behind-the-scenes easter eggs though, so if you wouldn’t mind shooting me that link, I’d be cool with that. I hope you find it!

Less than thirty minutes later, there was a new private message in his inbox from Astro-dog. 

**Astro-dog** : HI! Thanks, you’re the only person who actually bothered to respond to me. That is, with actual help. SO I checked your links, only one of those is still for sale and it is unfortunately, for sale in, like, Ukraine and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to pay the shipping on that. I also did some google-snooping of my own now that I actually know the name of the game and I can’t find it anywhere. Still. Were those the only two results on the whole internet?

Vic smiled at that. Actually, yes, they had been. 

**victum** : It was weird, literally two links popped up. Sorry you can’t find it. You’re welcome for responding.

The response was almost immediate.

**Astro-dog** : Fuckkkkk. Ok. -.- Say...You wouldn’t mind sharing your copy...would you? I’ll pay shipping...and I’ll be good to it….Won’t keep it too long…….Please..

**victum** : LOL waht if i live in Ukraine? Would be cheaper to just buy it from the guy on eBay.

**Astro-dog** : Nah cause I’ll still have to buy it from him. What about a trade. I’ll trade with uou for another game? Or, like, cat toys? 

**victum** : cat toys?

**Astro-dog** : I have a ton of those. More than i have money. Srsly though, think of a trad we can make and I’m yours. (if you’re not comfy trading/mail corresponding with me, I totally understand. No pressure)

Vic had to smile at the screen. Truth be told, he really had been feeling a little bit uncomfortable with Astro-dog’s pushing the subject. Just on how pushy they’d been. But it didn’t really matter, he didn’t guess. He didn’t really play the game anyway and the dude did have a nephew to keep a promise to. Maybe it really would be worth it. Especially if he could find something that he wanted in return. It would actually work out in his favor.

**victum** : It’s cool. What kind of games do you have that you’d be willing to trade, because I’m definitely interested in that.

Astro-dog didn't respond for ten minutes, and Vic got tired of waiting around and went to bed.


	2. Romeo and Julia

He forgot about it for a long time. Well, he didn’t exactly forget. His workload got bigger, people were dropping files off on his desk to be put away and he was focusing so hard on the fact that he had to reorganize the whole file room that he didn’t have time to ask them to please place the new files in the basket that said “NEW FILES”, never mind that the basket was overflowing. Fortunately, his boss was forgiving and understood that it was a ridiculous workload. 

At the end of the week, three days after meeting Alpha-dog, he finally had time to look at his computer again. 

He had a whole bunch of private messages from Alpha-dog, sitting in his inbox and waiting for him.

 **Astro-dog** : Hey, sokrry I didn’t respond for so long… I just saw theiss. I owuld love a trade. Even though my nephew’s birthdya has long passed. (it was yseterdya). I’ml still interested. Sorry? Thanks.

Vic smiled. The message was dated from the night before. So he wasn’t too late. He’d felt bad about not checking, but, as it turned out, there wasn’t anything to worry about. 

**victum** : Hey. It’s cool, I was super busy the last couple days. I’m still down for a trade.

The guy responded within seconds.

 **Astro-dog** : Hi, I was really drunk last night when I messaged you, so that’s what all the typos, there. :D What are you looking to trade?

 **victum** : I’m pretty much down for anything. I like movies and books and animals and fun trinkets. Also music. So whatever you’ve got, I’m down with. :0)

It took a little while for Alpha-dog to respond, so Vic went and got himself a salad. When he sat down again, there was a new message. 

**Astro-dog** : I have books and movies galore. Music, not so much. I have sadly gone digital on the music. :((( But movies and books. I’ll send you a picture of the books n movies n stuff I’m willing to trade and you just tell me what you want. :))))

About ten minutes later, Vic was able to peruse Alpha-dog’s entire collection of books and movies. For a couple of hours, actually, they talked back and forth about movies and books and TV shows, and they finally settled on two seasons of Buffy for the game. 

**Astro-dog** : Now, we just gotta work out the details. I know this is sketchy, but we kinda gotta know where we live, so.... Which state do you live in? You’re in US, right?

Vic smiled. 

**victum** : Yeah. NC.

 **Astro-dog** : No shit, me too! Wowee, what a wild ride. What say we meet up in charlotte or asheville? WHich is closer for you? (this way nobody has to give up their address or nothing) :)))))

 **victum** : Actually I live right outside asheville.

 **Astro-dog** : I’m closer to charlotte, but not by mcuh, so what days are you free? I work a lot of weekends and nights and stuff, so I don’t know how free you’d be on a tuesday morning…….

Shit, yeah, that was really inconvenient. 

**victum** : Yeah, I work days. Not weekends. Maybe one of us can get a day off sometime?

Astro-dog didn’t reply for a few moments. 

**Astro-dog** : ugh, just fuckin’ ship it to me

The link was a link to their address, and in the interest of not being creepy, didn’t even google them or anything. It was an apartment about an hour away from where Vic lived himself, and he had no trouble packing the game in a box and sending it on its way. 

The name on the address was Julia Nastrom. He thought it was a nice name and started to blush a little bit the more he thought about how he’d been talking to a girl the whole time. He tried not to think about it, to only think about how he’d be getting some DVDs pretty soon. His return address was on the box. 

A couple of days later, he noticed that, not only had Julia followed him on PodChat, she’d also messaged him, thanking him for going ahead and shipping the package to her. She also said that the package would be on its way soon, with both DVDs included. 

**Astro-dog** : lol, there’s also a lil secret gift in there bcuz I like you a little bit (:

 **victum** : Not a bomb, though, right?

 **Astro-dog** : LOL NO! I would never! You’re hilarious,btw...It was gr8 talking to you n stuff. Thanks for the game, you really saved my life there. 

**victum** : No problem. It was nice talking to you, too.

Now that their internet interaction was over, Vic found himself wanting to say something to keep the conversation going. He was still thinking about her days later, when he found himself daydreaming about Julia, about what she looked like, why she had so many cats. He was starting to annoy himself with how much he thought about her. He felt like stupid Romeo, falling for this girl he’d never met over the internet, after one interaction. But his Juliet, Julia, wasn’t falling at the same time. He had to give it to her for being a normal human being. 

He decided to make a list of all the things he knew about her, just to prove to himself how little he really knew. Or maybe it was to prove to himself that he wasn’t an awful person for falling for her, after all, he did know some things about her. 

1\. She liked Buffy  
2\. He knew her address  
3\. They liked the same books and video games  
4\. Her name was Juila Nastrom

In the box with the DVDs, there was a little plastic chicken leg, the kind that comes with a little cooking set. Like little kids play with. And that was the end of his quasi-romance with Julia. At least, that’s what he thought.


	3. And They Were Roommates

Vic needed a roommate. Rent was going up, and, despite how much he wished it weren’t true, he was very lonely. He did enjoy living by himself in his house, but, truth be told, he spent more time out of the house than in it, looking for a way to get his social needs met. There was a period of about three weeks, when his friend Astri had been looking for a place to stay after an apartment fire had completely destroyed his belongings, that he’d felt so happy to not have to come home to an empty house. He did feel a little stupid for wanting a roommate, though. Especially once he realized he’d never get to be naked in the living room again. 

None of his friends needed a place to live. Not anymore. No more displacements due to fires. Everyone he knew had stable living conditions. Naturally, he turned to social media next. 

PodChat reaped nothing for two whole weeks. Even with his friends boosting his post, making it appear at the top of the forums whenever someone looked for a place to stay, no one answered. He didn’t want just any old person, but he was starting to get desperate. 

Finally, after months of searching and knowing he didn’t want to live alone anymore, he found a private message in his inbox. It was from Astro-dog, so he just thought maybe she was trying to catch up with him again, but he was wrong.

 **Astro-dog** : wow, it’s been a while. So I’ve been seeing your posts about needing a roommate and Ijust have one question, do you have a problem with cats?

Vic didn’t know how to feel about that. Did she want to be his roommate? Was that what she was getting at? Did he feel comfortable living with a girl he’d never met? Well, he kinda had to be, he was advertising his living arrangements to the entire world, but did he feel comfortable living with a girl he had a weird crush on despite never having even seen a picture of her? Also, did he have a problem with cats? He decided that none of it mattered. It would be cool to meet her in real life, she seemed like a really nice person. And he really did need a roommate. 

**victum** : Hey, yeah, cats are cool. Rent is $550/month, really great for the area. Don’t you live kinda far away though?

 **Astro-dog** : Little bit. I just need to get out of the area pretty quick. Can I come see the place? Do you want to actually meet me first? Or can I just move in. Like, I need this fast. ASAP.

She wasn’t using smiley faces, which worried him just a little bit. But she seemed just as desperate for this as he was, so he just typed up a response. 

**victum** : I have tuesday off, I can help you move in. 

**Astro-dog** : perfect, you still live in the same place?

 **victum** : Yep. So I’ll see you on Tuesday? Any time after 10:30 am is good.

 **Astro-dog** : Yes. I’ll be there at 11.


	4. Oh My God, They Were Roommates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PLOT TWIST Bitches

Vic only had a couple of days to clean up the house, empty out the guest room, and prepare for Julia’s arrival. He even called his friend Cashmere to come over and make sure the house was prepared enough for a girl to come stay. A girl and her cat(s). Cash just teased him about having a stupid crush and told him that Julia would bring whatever she needed on her own. 

“I don’t know about the cats, though. Never had cats.”

Vic raised his eyebrows. “Yeah?”

She shrugged. “Not a huge cat person.

He sighed and stared at the wall. She’d just helped him fix the bedframe in the guest bedroom, it was missing some bolts, and now they were lounging on the kitchen floor. “She sounded like she needed to get out of wherever she was. Like maybe she was in a bad situation.”

Cashmere giggled. “Ooh, maybe you’re her knight in shining armor.”

He blushed. Because he had been fantasizing about her maybe collapsing in his arms and confiding in him why she’d had to leave. “Shut up,” he offered, weakly. 

“When is she gonna get here?”

“Tomorrow morning. I have the day off. I’m gonna help her move.”

Cash was still laughing. “You’ll get to show off your big muscles.”

He groaned. “Oh, god, will you please shut up.” He knew his blush was giving him away. 

The teasing continued until she went home. At least, that was what Vic thought. Unfortunately, Joseph in the group chat wanted in on the jokes and made a few little cartoons of Vic rescuing a faceless Julia from monsters and put them in the group chat. 

He’d messaged her a few times, just to see if she was interested in getting to know a little bit more about him, but she hadn’t responded. 

He made some sandwiches the next morning, every kind of sandwich he could think of, because he didn’t know what she ate. When it was time for her to arrive, he sat down next to the door and waited for a knock. He found himself becoming excited to know what kind of knock she had. He felt a little bit stupid. 

At 11:32, there was a knock at the door. He smoothed out his shirt and jumped up to answer it. He was bursting at the seams and he had the plate of sandwiches on the table. He glanced back at the house, just to make sure it really was clean, and then put on his biggest, not-creepy smile, and opened the door. 

But it was someone else. Not Julia. It was a tiny punk man with piercings and blackblack hair. He was frowning. He looked pissed and like he was in a hurry. In one hand he was carrying an animal carrier, and the other hand was stretched out to shake Vic’s. 

They made eye contact. The tiny man frowned. “You’re fuckin’ tall.”

Vic blinked. “Can I help you with something?”

He rubbed his eyes. “I was gonna message you about some kinda physical characteristic of mine but I forgot. I kinda left in a hurry. I’m Julian. I’m moving in today.”

Vic froze. “Oh god.”

“Can I come in? Please?”

Vic didn’t have a choice but to move out of the way and comply, because Julian pushed his way past him and into the house. He closed the door behind him and let himself breathe for a second while Julian put the animal carrier down. He had a backpack on and he put that down, too. 

“I can have rent by the end of the month, if that’s not a problem.” He got on his knees to peer inside the carrier. “Hi, baby, hi. You’re okay.”

While Julian cooed at the cat, Vic swallowed. He didn’t really know how he felt. The stupid crush that he had already known was bogus was still there, despite Julia really being a man. It felt like shit. He felt like he’d been tricked. 

Julian turned towards Vic and smiled. “Hi. Nice to meet you.”

Vic nodded. “Yeah. Nice to meet you, too.”

“Are you okay?”

Vic laughed a little bit, trying to show how confused he was, but it came out harsh and cynical. He decided to run with it. He was starting to feel pissed off. “Did you…did you catfish me?”

Julian’s smile turned into a frown. “I…no? Not that I know of. Is there something wrong? Is it the wrong day or something?” He stood up, looked a little bit scared. “Did I forget to tell you about my cat?”

Vic scoffed. “No. I knew about the cat.” He took a deep breath. “What, did you think I’d be more likely to let a woman ship me DVDs?”

Julian’s frown deepened. “What?” He just sounded confused. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Vic looked at his feet. “I’m talking about how your address said your name was Julia.” When he looked up again, Julian’s face had fallen. 

“Dude, you were expecting a woman.” He looked sad. “I bet I spelled my last name ‘Nastrom,’ too, didn’t I?” He looked down. “I type too damn fast. I’m sorry, man.’

Vic didn’t know what to say. They just stood there for a few moments, being awkward and silent.

Julian exhaled, long and low. “I can’t really leave right now.”

It wasn’t even that he was that disappointed, not even that Julian wasn’t a girl, that made him feel defensive and angry, made him want the guy out of his house. “Why not?” he bitched. 

Julian looked him right in the eye with fierce determination, then wilted a little bit and looked away. “I’ll go if you want me to, but my car is getting taken care of as we speak and I kinda don’t have anywhere to go.”

“Taken care of?”

“Meaning some buddies of mine are driving it out west so it looks like I went to a hotel in Kansas and overdosed or something. I don’t know the whole plan.” He shrugged. His voice was sullen, now. He seemed sad. And Vic was confused. “Barely made it out as it was.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Julian looked him in the eye again. “Sometimes, when you leave a job, it’s messy. Like leaving an abusive partner. So, I just quit my job. And my boss is gonna be looking for me. So I have to have some friends drive my car out into the desert and leave it there. Hopefully someone who looks like me will die a couple of days from now and they’ll leave it at that.”

Vic was still confused a pissed. This all sounded like bullshit. Crazy, bat shit. “What, were you a sniper or something? Did you deal drugs or something? Work for the mob?”

The dude laughed a little bit. “I was a stripper, twenty-four hours ago. I owe my boss a lot of money. Like, a fucking bullshit amount of money. Lots of zeros.”

Vic had to sit down and rub his eyes because this was just too fucking much. This was just rich. “So now I’m, what, protecting you from your evil pimp?”

“Oh, dude, no, my pimp was way worse.” Vic gave him a look. “And you aren’t protecting me. I just need a place to stay and keep my cat until they quit looking for me. And I was planning on not moving out as soon as it was safe, but I can see I wasn’t exactly expected. Or wanted.”

Vic wanted to yell at him. He wanted to confirm that sentiment, that he hadn’t been expected or wanted. But something inside of him wouldn’t let him. 

“I didn’t do anything illegal. At least, not that the cops want me for. So they aren’t looking for me.” 

“So I might get killed by the mafia but at least the cops aren’t after me.”

Julian laughed, loudly and unexpectedly. Vic flinched. “Not the mafia, and you probably definitely won’t get killed, but yeah. The cops aren’t after me.”

Vic shook his head and groaned. “I need to know I’m not gonna get killed before I agree to let you stay here.”

“They won’t find me,” Julian assured. “That’s a guarantee. They think I’m out west.”

“This is insane,” Vic decided. “What if nobody dies in Kansas?”

“I left a whole note to my coworkers. My sister, too. But she knows it’s fake.” Julian was sitting on the floor again, hand on the cat carrier. “Something about life getting too rough. I’m taking my cat to Kansas to see if I can find the yellow-brick road and then I’m gonna kill myself.” He propped his head on his fists. “It was very poetic. I’m very poetic. Why the hell am I telling you this? I was supposed to just show up and stay here for a couple of months.”

Vic rubbed his eyes some more. “Because I thought you were a girl. I was mad.” He sighed and stood up. “Okay. Where’s your stuff, I’ll help you move it inside.”

Julian held up his backpack. “Got it all right here. Gotta travel light.”

Vic felt really guilty. “Okay. Great. I’ll just show you to your room.”


	5. Somebody Come Get Her

For the first couple of days, living with Julian proved to be an awkward affair. The dude hung out in his room, mostly, making phone calls and being a hermit. The cat, Nightshade, was a little more friendly and curious. Vic had to agree, he really was an adorable baby. Soft and sweet and cuddly, he was really the perfect roommate. He was black and grey and had a weird eye and Vic knew exactly why Julian had chosen him. 

Julian showed up at dinner and breakfast and seemed to spend his hours playing video games on his phone and hanging out in his room. 

Like a pervert, Vic looked at him and tried to imagine a stripper. He felt guilty and gross about it, but he just couldn’t see it. The kid was short and had black hair and scrunched-up limbs. He was stocky. He looked like a little shorty. He was a little shorty. He had some piercings and a couple of tattoos that Vic could see. He wasn’t ugly, Vic had to concede, but he wasn’t stripper material. And Vic would know, because he’d been to a couple strip clubs before. He’d never seen anyone like Julian.

They didn’t talk much at dinner, but Vic had to change that because the curiosity was killing him. He knew it was probably crossing a line of some kind, but he couldn’t avoid it for much longer. Besides, he’d probably had two conversations with the kid in the entire time they’d been living together.

“So,” Vic started, rolling his peas around on his plate, “I had a couple questions.”

Julian looked up from his book and frowned. “What? We’re talking to each other, now?”

Vic shrugged. He felt like an asshole. “I don’t know. It feels awkward to just ignore you all the time. We live in the same house.”

“Duh.” He went back to his book and Vic considered himself shut down, went back to his meal. “You said you had questions?”

Vic looked up and they made eye contact. “Yeah. Like, you were a stripper?”

He winced as Julian’s frown got deeper. He’d definitely crossed the line. But then there was a little bit of softness. “Yeah. For a while. Couple years.” He smiled and closed his book. The frown was just gone, like magic. “What do you want to know?”

Vic sniffed a little bit. “Open to all questions?”

“Yeah.” Julian smiled right at him, making full eye contact, and then took a bite of food.

Vic couldn’t help but feel a little bit guilty about that. But he soldiered on. “How did you, like, get started? How does one get into stripping?”

Julian kept smiling. “Well, good question. However, I’m gonna totally lie to you with my answer because I don’t want to shock you too bad.” He shrugged. “It’s totally more fun to come up with a fake answer.” His smile was huge. Vic was in awe of how often he smiled. “I started stripping for fun. It was an easy job and you make a lot of fast cash.”

Vic nodded and put some peas in his mouth so he’d have time to come up with a response. “You don’t really seem like the type.”

“Well, I mean, duh, like, look at me.” He gestured to himself. “Totally not the right build to do, like, pole dancing. Fortunately, I’m really good at lapdances. The older guys really dig it. Older women, too. I’m not exactly a male model. And I had some coworkers who were definitely in the running for sexiest man alive.”

Vic didn’t really know what to say to that, so he just shoveled more food into his mouth and nodded. “Wow, that’s crazy.”

Julian beamed at him. “I really enjoyed it for a while.”

He wasn’t sure if he was allowed to pry. “Yeah? What changed?” he pried.

“They wanted me to do, like, private meetings and shit. If you catch my drift.” He put a bite of food in his mouth and talked around it anyway. “And then the boss started being a real asshole to everyone, new management and everything, and I had to get out.” Vic was officially out of things to say. “So, what about you?”

He blinked. “What?”

“What do you do for a living, Vic?” The dude was still smiling like a madman. 

So Vic gave him a weak little smile. “Well, I majored in business. So I just got a job in business management straight outta college. I work for Acucenter. Have for about six years, now.”

Julian nodded and went back to his food. “Is it good money?”

Vic shrugged. “Pays the bills.”

“Even though you needed to get a roommate?”

“I just got lonely,” Vic explained. “I have plenty of money.” 

“Right,” Julian said. “What do you do at your job? What’s on your daily schedule?”

Vic was out of food to distract himself with so he reached for the bowl of peas and rice. “Well, I usually show up to work and start filling out reports. My company, we deal with, like, tech companies and their manufacturers, like, we’re the middle man. So I fill out the reports that say, ‘hey, we called the manufacturer and told them to ship you guys parts,’ and then I have to fill out a report that says that the tech company has sent over the bill for the manufacturer and then I send a report of the whole transaction to my boss and it’s just a big chain. I fill out a lot of paperwork.”

Julian nodded. “Yeah, sounds like it.” He reached over for more food, too. “Do you get to talk to the companies at all? Like, how do you get the information from the tech to you to the manufacturer?”

“There’s a whole other wing of the building that answers calls and places orders and then they put it all in a spreadsheet and I fill out the reports from there. So I don’t actually do any ordering or paying and I don’t ever see the product, I just type reports and send them to whoever needs them.”

“So, in other words, you have the most boring job ever,” Julian said, pouting just a little bit, for comedic effect.

Vic smiled. “Yeah. I guess. I mean, if you were an ex-stripper who’s currently on the run, I can see how that would be boring.”

“You’re really gonna have me believe that you think filling out forms all day is fun?”

He shrugged. “It has its charms. 

Julian laughed a little bit and shook his head. “You’re so boring. It’s kinda ridiculous how this is all happening to you, you know?”

“I don’t know. What do you mean?”

He made eye contact. Vic had to blink. “I mean that you have this boring life and you go to work like a normal person and it pays the bills and all the sudden you get catfished and this asshole who’s got hits out on him shows up at your house and you can’t kick him out.” 

“If it was closer to Christmas, it would be a hallmark movie.”

Julian laughed at him again. “Yeah, too bad it’s not.”

Vic smiled down at his food. He didn’t know what to say. Again. But he didn’t let that stop him. “I’ve always kinda had a soft spot for that kind of movie. People say they’re shitty, but I don’t really see it. I like how everything works out in the end, you know?”

Julian smiled. “I totally know. It’s why I have a soft spot for cartoons. No room for drama, you know? And whatever drama there is, it’s just little kid drama, like, parents are down their backs about eating vegetables. Or they accidentally overcharged their parents’ bank account playing video games.”

Vic grinned. “I thought you meant, like, anime.”

“No way, man, Cartoon Network all the way. Nick Jr..”

“Corporate cartoons, is what you mean.”

Julian sighed. “You totally get me.”

Vic looked up and Julian was looking at him with these giant, dreamy eyes. Vic didn’t know what to do with that, so he started to back off. He cleared his throat, but Julian didn’t stop gazing at him. That was what he was gonna call it. A gaze. And Vic didn’t seem to be able to break the eye contact, either. He knew he was turning red. It was an intense gaze. 

Julian didn’t give up. “I like you. I think we should quit ignoring each other.”

Vic cleared his throat again and looked away. “Okay. Uh, sure.”

Julian smiled at him.


	6. Liquoriche

Not ignoring each other quickly became easier said than done. Vic’s workload expanded as he lost his coworker to another job and had to fill both positions until management found a replacement. Pairing that with the fact that he was still busy with reorganizing, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that he was rarely home. When he was, he was less than lucid, brain fried from hours and hours of work. 

One rainy Wednesday afternoon, Vic looked at the clock, looked at his stack of unfiled files that had to be filed by the end of the day, and wanted to cry. There was no way he’d be able to get it done by five. He wouldn’t be home until seven or eight. This wasn’t even his job! His job was to fill out the forms, not file them!

Vic texted Julian, just because Vic normally cooked dinner every night, and Julian sent him some emojis and a promise that dinner would be ready by the time he got home and that it would be the best dinner ever. 

While Vic doubted that, he put his head down and got to work. It was so unfair that he had to do this whole job. It was unfair to him and to the rest of the company, who had to wait on him before they could move on. The injustice burned inside of him, heavy and emotional. 

It was almost nine when he was finally ready to go home, no one else was in the building except for a handful of janitors. His car was the only one in the parking lot. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Julian to make dinner without burning the house down, it was just that Vic had never seen Julian near a stove. The most Vic had ever seen him do was microwave a can of soup for lunch. So he was expecting fire trucks or sirens or something, smoldering ruins. When he arrived home, though, the house was quiet and still. The lights were off, the windows were shut, curtains drawn. Vic wondered if Julian had decided to go to sleep early or something. 

The lights of the city were twinkling a little way down the mountain, but Victor could see a storm coming on. There were dark clouds looming over the horizon. 

Nighshade made a cute little meowing noise at him when he walked inside and trotted off down the hallway toward the bedrooms, like he expected Vic to follow him. Vic didn’t follow him, though, it was looking like he needed to order a pizza. 

He tried to turn on the light in the living room, but the power seemed to not be working. Which was probably why it had seemed so peaceful. It made sense. They only lived a few miles away from the city, but the power grid was totally different on the mountainside. No underground energy, just a thousand, feeble powerlines. With the storm coming, it was just a matter of time before the power was knocked out. 

He took off his shoes and tossed them in the direction of the couch and looked around in the darkness. His eyes were adjusted already, and he could see most of the details. It wasn’t pitch black outside, so he knew what he could see just enough. 

“Julian?” he called. The guy didn’t have a car, but it was possible that he’d bailed in favor of the lights just down the road. If the power had gone out hours before, he might’ve even walked to get dinner. Vic just hoped he’d get back before the rain hit. 

Julian wasn’t in his room when Victor peeked in, the bed was perfectly made. He wasn’t in Victor’s own room, either, or the bathroom, or the kitchen. Which meant he was definitely not home. There wasn’t anywhere else to be. 

Vic went back to the living room with Nightshade rubbing against his legs, begging to be tripped over. “What’s the matter, kitty?” he asked, stopping to rub his little head. But the cat wasn’t there to be cuddled, he meowed and ran back down the hallway again. Vic still didn’t follow him. He had a pizza to order. Fortunately, he could do it online.

He played games on his phone for almost half an hour until he heard a car pull into the driveway, then he gathered the tip in ones and headed to the door. 

As he reached his hand out to open the door, it swung open and hit the wall with a bang. A very bright light shone directly into his eyes and he backed away, tripping over his own feet, hand in front of his eyes. “What the fuck?!”

The flashlight lowered and there was suddenly a knife right in his face, but the blade was all he could see. “Get back,” the knife-holder warned. “I’ll cut you if I have to, get back.”

It was a man’s voice, and Victor calmly obeyed it, stepping backwards into the living room. His eyes were slowly adjusting and he could make out two figures. Two fucking ripped dudes, right in his face. 

“Sit down on the couch and don’t fucking move.”

Victor held up his hands and sat down on the couch. All he could do was watch while the guy with the knife stayed close and the other guy headed to the back of the house. 

After barely ten seconds, the other guy yelled, “Clear!” and Mr. Knife started waving his weapon at Vic. 

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know who the fuck you’re talking about!” Vic blurted. He needed to get these freaks out of his house. He wasn’t housing any fugitives, was he?

Knife man smiled at him and put the flashlight down on the table before sitting down very sweetly, right in his personal space. “Victor,” he said, slowly, playing with the knife so closely to Vic’s face, “you think I don’t know a thing about you, but I do.”

The other guy made an appearance, stomping into the room. “I can’t find the bitch, Alph.”

“Look under the cabinets,” Alph suggested. “He’s a tiny motherfucker.”

Oh god. All the sudden, he knew they were talking about Julian. He shrank away from Alph, who was conveniently turning towards him again. 

“As I was saying, I actually know quite a lot about you, Victor.” Victor’s eyes stared at the knife. “I know all about how you met Julian on the internet, through your PodChat account, I know all about how you offered him a place to stay, and I know that he’s in this house right now.” He had leaned very closely and was whispering in Vic’s face. 

“No,” Vic argued, already shaking. “No, I met this girl, Julia, and I offered to have her come rent out my spare room, but she never showed up.”

The asshole laughed for a few seconds, just long enough to disarm Victor, and then he stopped abruptly and reached out with a hand, wrapping it skillfully around Victor’s throat. “If he’s here, and I find out that you’re hiding him from me, I’m gonna fucking kill you.”

“I swear,” Vic whispered hoarsely, “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

The other guy came back. “Not under the cabinets, either. I dunno, boss.”

Alph let go of Vic’s neck. “I’m gonna put the squeeze on little Victor, here.” The man stood up and left him sitting there, wheezing and choking, before he put the knife into a holster on his leg and crossed his arms. “Do you know what he did? Your little friend, Julian?” 

Vic didn’t answer, he was busy trying to look like he didn’t know anything. He didn’t know what these guys would do if they found Julian, and he didn’t want to know. 

“He stole a whole lot of money from our boss. More money than you can make in two years.” He was frowning, now, angry. “Do you know what he did with it?”

Vic licked his dry lips. “I don’t even know who we’re talking about. I don’t even know anyone named Julian.”

“He took the money, and he ran away with it.”

The other guy made a loud noise of discovery. “Is this the bitch’s cat?” he asked, pointing at Nightshade, who wasn’t acting any differently at all. 

Vic sat up. “No, that’s my cat, Liquorice,” he said urgently. “Come here, baby,” he called. The whole room watched as Nightshade happily trotted over to him and jumped up on the couch, curling up immediately on his lap. Vic made a note to himself to be sure to give the baby extra treats when this was all over. If they weren’t both killed before he got the chance.

Alph’s partner made a noise of uncertainty. “What if we…what if this is the wrong guy?” he asked.


End file.
